


Gaining A New Friend

by afteriwake



Series: Words Upon My Heart [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-16
Updated: 2012-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 10:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had nothing to fear with Matsumoto.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gaining A New Friend

“Lieutenant Kotetsu!” Isane winced slightly at Matsumoto's bubbly voice. “I'd like to talk to you!”

Isane turned to face the woman coming her way apprehensively. While she had no doubt that Hisagi was no longer infatuated by Matsumoto, she had no clue at all how the woman felt towards the man she realized she had slowly been falling in love with. They had confessed their feelings for each other only two months prior, and those two months had been absolutely wonderful. But she'd always been waiting for something, she realized, and she was very sure it was this confrontation. “Yes, Lieutenant Matsumoto?” she asked.

“Rangiku, Rangiku,” she said, throwing an arm around Isane's waist. Isane wobbled a bit but kept her balance. “You know that party that's coming up tonight?”

She nodded. “Yes. The one that Captain Kyoraku is holding to celebrate Lieutenant Ise's birthday?”

“That one!” Matsumoto said with a nod. “We need to get you a dress.”

“A dress?” Isane said, her eyes widening.

“Well, yeah. Didn't you know he said no uniforms and no yukatas or anything like that? He wants everyone in modern dress.”

“But I'm not going,” she said.

“Why not?” Matsumoto said, confused. “Lieutenant Ise asked all of us to come, to save her from her crazy captain.”

“Yes, well...” She didn't know how to tell Matsumoto that she and Hisagi would be working on the book about the lieutenants. In fact, they would be thinking of questions for Matsumoto.

“You can take a night away from that boring healing work,” Matsumoto said.

“I'll be working on a book,” she said quietly.

Matsumoto's face broke out into a wide smile. “Oh, like the one about the captains?”

“Yes.”

“What's it about?”

“The lieutenants?” she said cautiously.

“Then we have to go shopping, and then get some lunch and you can interview me!” she said, pulling away from Isane and clapping her hands together. “Come on. It'll be fun!”

Well...perhaps it would be best to get it over with, Isane thought to herself. With an almost unnoticeable sigh, she turned to Matsumoto. “All right. Let's go.”

–

“Shuhei would like this one a lot,” Matsumoto said, holding up a dress and molding it to herself for a moment before handing it to Isane. “Oh! And this one as well.”

“Why do you want to impress him?” Isane asked before she thought.

Matsumoto looked at her. “Silly, those dresses are for _you._. He's not my boyfriend.” 

“But...” Isane said, looking confused. They weren't open about the fact they were dating. In fact, other than that first night after they had their first kiss, any romantic things had happened behind closed doors, and it had usually been nothing more than a few kisses at the end of the evening.

Matsumoto laughed. “Even if he had not told me months ago I would have guessed. You two spend so much time together, working on your books.” She picked up another dress. “I read the one about the captains. I liked it, though I wish the chapter on Captain Hitsugaya had been longer.”

“But he's young,” Isane said weakly.

“I know, I know. I did like the way you supplemented each article with information from others.” Then she paused. “Why didn't you ask me about my captain?”

“I tried,” she said, taking yet another dress from Matsumoto. “But you were nowhere to be found, and that was the last chapter I had to write. Lieutenant Hinamori was available, and she knew him from a very young age, so...”

“Well, I wish you had. I love my captain dearly,” she said with a warm smile. “I may goof off and drink a lot, but Captain Hitsugaya could be a lot worse, and he's not. And I respect him a lot. I would have been honored to talk about him.” She turned that smile to Isane. “But if it was a few months ago, I can tell you why I was not to be found.”

“Really?” Isane asked.

She nodded. “I was sowing my wild oats with Captain Kenpachi.”

Isane's eyes bugged slightly. She'd heard rumors, but... “ _Really_?”

Matsumoto got a look at her face, and then warm laughter spilled out. “I still am, actually, though they aren't as wild anymore. Don't tell me this surprises you?”

“A bit,” she admitted.

“Zaraki is a very good man,” Matsumoto said. “He may _seem_ scary, but he's honest and he's good to his men and to his daughter, and he...well, he's actually rather quite nice.”

“Then...there is truth to the rumor that you and he and Lieutenant...” she began.

“No, not at all. We spend our time drinking, or we did. At any rate, it isn't fun to just drink with Kira, so I had to find others who would share some sake with me. It is only recently that we've done more than just drink together.”

Isane looked closely at her. “So you are not upset that I am seeing Hisagi-san?”

“What? No,” Matsumoto said, waving her hand, and then she grinned. “I knew Shuhei had a crush on me. I was flattered, but I never thought of him as anything more than a friend. He's not my type, to be honest. He's too...uptight, I think. He may appear to be calm and collected or cool, but when he'd get to thinking _those_ kinds of thoughts about me when he was sober it got to be stifling. But he is a dear friend, and I loved drinking with him, because he _did_ know how to cut loose.” Then the smile warmed considerably. “He told me how he felt about you before he told you, you know. He didn't want me to feel hurt that I was being ignored for you. But I'd figured it was something like that before he spoke, and I wished him good luck, and then you two were an item. I'm glad it worked out.”

Isane felt herself growing warm, not at what Matsumoto had implied but at the fact that Hisagi had told her that he wanted her over Matsumoto. “I am too,” she said quietly.

“Enough about me,” Matsumoto said, grabbing Isane's free hand and pulling her along. “We need to find you a dress that will make Shuhei's eyes pop out of their sockets.”

–

Hours later she returned to her quarters with notes on what would end up being the most entertaining of chapters, a list of questions for Captain Hitsugaya and Captain Kenpachi, and a dress. While she was not quite as busty as Matsumoto, she had been persuaded to purchase a dress that showed off her cleavage just a bit and showed a lot more leg than she would have liked. But Matsumoto had promised her that it would make Hisagi sit up and take notice. She was still a bit hesitant, but it was worth it. She wanted a change in the relationship, for it to take another step. Maybe not _that_ step, but something a little more would be nice.

Matsumoto had said she would arrange everything, and she had just slipped into her dress and gotten a good look at herself when she heard a knock at the door. Nervous, she went and opened it.

Hisagi's eyes did bulge a bit when he saw what she was wearing, and he grinned at her. “You look very nice, Isane,” he said, handing her a bouquet of flowers.

She blushed and took the flowers. “Thank you. Please come in,” she said, going to a cupboard and pulling down a vase. She had a pretty one from her captain that would set off these flowers nicely.

“Rangiku said she helped pick out the dress. I thought it would be more to her taste, but you look...comfortable in it.”

“I still feel a little uncomfortable, to tell the truth,” she said, filling the vase with water and putting the flowers in it. She set the vase down on her table and then got a good look at Hisagi. “You look very handsome.”

He grinned, blushing slightly. “It was a well planned attack from some people who very much wanted us to be there tonight,” he said with a laugh. “Captain Kyoraku came by and took me out of my office to find a suit. I could have found one on my own, but it was good that I had help.”

“It turned out nicely,” she said. “Why did they want us there?”

“Matsumoto thought it was odd that we hadn't had a proper date yet,” he said. “According to her we are to show up, say our hellos, and then duck out and spend the rest of the evening on a date.”

“Not in these clothes,” she said, shaking her head. “We'd stand out horribly.”

“Which is what I told Matsumoto, who sent along this,” he said, handing her a package he had been carrying in his other hand. “I believe it is a yukata.”

Isane opened up the package and stared at the brilliantly hued cloth. “Oh, this is lovely.”

“Then perhaps we should make our hellos briefly and change into something more comfortable?” he asked with a grin.

“That sounds like a very good idea.”

He offered her his hand, and she took it, letting him pull her out the door and leaving just enough time for her to close it behind her before they were off, heading to the party.

–

“Well?” Matsumoto asked the next day. Isane jumped slightly, because she hadn't been expecting to hear the voice as she walked out of the healing center at noon to get something to eat. “How was the rest of your evening?”

“It was nice,” Isane said with a smile. “He left a little earlier than I did and went and changed, then took me to my quarters and waited for me to change, and then we walked along the road outside of the healing center and sat on the roof and watched the stars.”

“So it wasn't a _date_ date,” Matsumoto said with a slight pout.

“We don't really need to be around others to have a nice date,” Isane said. “I was just about to get something to eat. Would you like to join me?”

“Yes,” Matsumoto said. “So, you don't need to go places for you two to have a good time? Or do anything fun?”

“What we find fun is more simple. Mostly we just like to talk.”

“I never really talked to him,” Matsumoto admitted. “I mean, I would, but generally it was to complain, or to hear him complain, and then we would drink our cares away. Perhaps I was not such a good friend, in that regard.”

“I think you would find that he has many interesting things to say.” She smiled. “I like to talk to him about many things, big and little, important and not. I feel most at ease outside of work when I am sitting in a room with him and we are simply talking about something important to one or both of us.”

“Zaraki likes to talk sometimes,” Matsumoto mused. “I listen, and it's interesting. Perhaps I should convince him to talk more?”

“Only if you don't think that would make things uncomfortable,” Isane said cautiously.

“You know, he doesn't just like talking about fights. He has a lot to say about Lieutenant Kushajishi, and some of the other men in his squad. The stories about his past are not good drinking stories, though. Those things we talk about when we are alone. I don't think he's shared some of them with other people.”

“Then that is a good sign, Matsumoto-san.”

“Rangiku. We went over this yesterday.”

“Rangiku,” Isane said with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I apologize. I am not normally this informal with people.”

“I don't mind informal for good friends. And I think you are going to become a very good friend.”

“I could always use a good friend,” Isane said with a slight laugh. “Let us get something to eat and talk about things. It would be nice to take a very long break from my work today.”

“And what is your work today?”

“Paperwork. I'm going through medical records of all our current patients, updating them.”

Matsumoto wrinkled her nose. “How long can you escape?”

“An hour or so.”

Matsumoto grabbed her hand. “I know a great place near my quarters...” And with a slight tug, the women were off, strengthening a new friendship more and more.


End file.
